


Misc. Faquarl Lives Stuff

by theanonymouslibrarians



Series: Faquarl Lives [7]
Category: Bartimaeus - Jonathan Stroud
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2019-03-03
Packaged: 2019-09-07 13:15:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 2,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16854637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theanonymouslibrarians/pseuds/theanonymouslibrarians
Summary: Fic fragments, short fics, drabbles, etc. set in my Faquarl Lives universe.





	1. Sleeping

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own the Bartimaeus Sequence or any of its characters.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own the Bartimaeus Sequence or any of its characters.

In Hopkins body  Faquarl needs to sleep.  Bartimaeus secretly likes to watch him. It fascinates him to see this powerful  djinni completely helpless, even if only temporarily. Besides it's kind of cute when  Faquarl starts sleep talking about world domination. 

But he needs to be careful. If  Faquarl wake up and sees him, he'll glare at him and then pull  Bartimaeus into bed with him, holding him tightly and muttering something about  Bartimaeus ruining his rest like he ruins everything and dealing with him in the morning.


	2. Satisfaction

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own the Bartimaeus Sequence or any of its characters.

Watching Nathaniel groan and writhe in pain wasn't nearly as satisfying as  Faquarl thought it would be. Slowly killing the  horla who was infecting the human, making sure it begged for mercy before begging to die, on the other hand, was exquisite. Later, while mulling over this,  Faquarl would decide those feelings were caused by him not being the one to inflict the pain on the human. He supposed it didn't matter. It was in the past. And whenever  Bartimaeus wasn't busy fussing over his pet the other  djinni was all but kissing  Faquarl's feet in gratitude. That made a nice change and  Faquarl could think of several ways that gratitude could come in handy. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I blame saentiel for this. He/she made that post about how Faquarl should have lived, and ever since I’ve been having flashes of scenes (mostly disconnected) that would/could have happened if Faquarl had lived. At this point, I even have aus for the au, but no full-length fic. So I figured I’d post a fragment or two when it came to me. Oh, and of course I don’t own the Bartimaeus series or any of the characters.

Nathaniel peered out of the small gap between the cave wall and the boulder that currently blocked the entrance, but it was no use. He couldn’t see  Bartimaeus , Kitty, or (thankfully)  Ammet . 

“Oh, get away from the entrance and sit down, you ingrate!” A voice snapped at him from behind. “This is only a good hiding place if  Ammet doesn’t see two white eyes as big as dinner plates peeking out at him.” 

Nathaniel turned, made a face at his companion, but crossed to the opposite side of the cave and dropped onto a large rock. They sat in silence for several minutes, then, “ Faquarl ?” 

“Talking or making any type of noise probably isn’t a good idea either.” 

“Then why are you sharpening your knife?” 

“Because if  Ammet finds us, silver is the best weapon we have.” But the  djinni stopped. 

“Do you think Kitty and  Bartimaeus got away?” 

“I’ve been here as long as you have. I wouldn’t know.”  

Nathaniel scowled. “We should be doing something! They could be hurt!” 

“Like what?”  

Nathaniel didn’t respond. 

“Exactly.” 

“Oh, please, you’re worried, too!” 

“Am I?”  Faquarl asked, in an amused sort of way.  

“Yes.” Nathaniel replied fiercely. “You haven’t stopped staring at the opening since we got here!” 

“You confuse watchfulness for worry. Unlike you and the girl, most djinn value self-preservation. If  Ammet finds us, he’ll likely come through that crack. Of course, we’ll both most likely die in that event, but staying alert could buy us a few more seconds. Still, if it makes you feel better, they probably haven’t been caught, yet. If what  Bartimaeus says about  Ammet is true,”  Faquarl gave a little shudder, “we’d have heard the screams by now. I’d imagine  Bartimaeus is off doing everything he can to protect your little girlfriend.” 

“But who’s going to protect  Bartimaeus ?” 

Something undefinable flickered in  Faquarl’s eyes, and he resumed sharpening the knife. “As I said, we shouldn’t make too much noise.” 

And the two lapsed into silence.


	4. Look After Him

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own the Bartimaeus Sequence or any of its characters.

The turning point in  Faquarl and Nathaniel’s relationship came one day when  Faquarl very casually remarked that he and  Bartimaeus had known each other before Nathaniel was born and that  Faquarl would be there long after Nathaniel was dead.

Nathaniel just smiled sadly and says “I know. Look after him. He doesn’t deal well with grief.”

"After Ptolemy-"

"I know what he was like after the brat's-"

"He tried to kill himself. " Nathaniel finished.

"...What?"  Faquarl hadn't known this and he wasn't quite sure what to do with that information.

"Or he was at least less careful than he should have been on dangerous charges.  Bartimaeus tries to keep those memories hidden when he and I share a mind,  but...well, it's hard to block off everything for too long. I don't think he'd want you to know. But you need to. Because after Kitty and I die you'll be the only one he has to stop him from doing something stupid."


	5. Wrong

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own the Bartimaeus Sequence or any of its characters.

Faquarl knows that something is dreadfully wrong when he's lying in bed and  Bartimaeus lays down on top of him, wrapping his arms tightly around  Faquarl and burrowing his head in  Faquarl's chest, all without saying a word.


	6. Fun

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own the Bartimaeus Sequence or any of its characters.

Faquarl decided to have some fun with Nathaniel one day. He wasn't going to hurt the magician! He liked that he and  Bartimaeus were on good terms for once. But scare him...that would be fun. So  Faquarl backed Nathaniel against a wall, whispering all the things he'd done to magicians in the past, and reached a hand out to touch the magician's cheek...and suddenly had a large gash in said hand because apparently Nathaniel had taken to carrying around silver daggers since he'd given up on enslaving spirits. After that,  Faquarl's opinion of Nathaniel went up slightly


	7. Injured

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own the Bartimaeus Sequence or any of its characters.

"Bartimaeus!" Nathaniel cried out, running to where the djinni lay pinned to the ground by several iron poles.

Behind him, he could hear  Faquarl battling with the disgruntled  afrit .

" M'fine ." Bartimaeus muttered. "Jus...jus  ge ' the iron out."

Nathaniel would have rolled his eyes of he hadn't been so worried. Instead he started the words of dismissal.

"No-" Bartimaeus got out before being released to the Other Place.

"He'll be furious with you for that."  Faquarl's deep voice said close by, and Nathaniel turned to see the djinni standing less than a foot behind him, staring at the place Bartimaeus had lain. There was a burn mark in the shape of a thunderbird, the shape the  afrit had been in when last Nathaniel had seen him, on the wall.

Nathaniel shrugged and got to his feet. "He'll forgive me when he sees you and I are  _ both _ alive."  Faquarl had never hurt him, but Nathaniel never felt entirely comfortable being alone with him.

Faquarl grinned, a bit too widely. "But what if the  afrit wanted to finish the job? He sent a detonation toward Bartimaeus, but Bartimaeus was gone. And you were just standing there..." Nathaniel flinched as  Faquarl reached out and brushed a strand of hair out of Nathaniel's face. "Poor, boy. You  _ did _ scream so horribly...  Of course I dispatched the  afrit swiftly, suffering wounds myself. "  Faquarl gestured to the burn on the wall with a gashed arm. "But that wouldn't bring you back..."

Nathaniel straightened up, hand coming to rest on the knife in his belt. "Bartimaeus would be suspicious. He wouldn't entirely trust you. Besides, it would destroy him. We both know he's not as strong as he pretends to be. You wouldn't do that to him."

Faquarl's grin faded and he looked at Nathaniel appraisingly, as if he hadn't seen him quite clearly before. "Wouldn't I?" He asked dully.

"No." Nathaniel replied firmly, and stifling his fear turned away from  Faquarl . "Now come on. We still have work to do."


	8. Understanding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own the Bartimaeus Sequence or any of its characters. This is an expansion of the former first chapter (which I've deleted).

“I don’t understand you,  Bartimaeus .”  Faquarl said in a quiet tone.

I nodded sagely. “True genius is often hard to grasp.” 

“You object to...to...well, this.” He gestured at the body that was once Hopkins. “All well and good. You don’t want to serve  Nouda . Well, I can understand that. But this...this devotion to the boy. And the girl. Two mere  _ humans _ ...”  Faquarl shook his head. “I don’t understand why you stay.”

 I shrugged. “The care and maintenance of humans is a fairly difficult discipline. I find that they can seldom manage it on their own.” 1

( 1 Too right. With Ptolemy it had been forgetting to eat. With Kitty it was habitually hurling herself at enemies much larger than herself. Nathaniel hadn’t tried to blow himself up since the Glass Palace incident, but he  _ had  _ been so wrapped up in his research the other day that he’d forgotten to turn the heat on. During a blizzard.)

“They don’t bind you or charge you to look after them. And I know you’re free to return to The Other Place whenever you want. So, why do you stick around?”

“They’re mine.” It was a simple answer, but oddly enough,  Faquarl seemed to accept it.

“Anyway, what would it be like for you without my stirring company?” I shot him a cheeky grin.

“Lovely, I’d imagine.” He replied dryly.

I frowned. “Look, I can’t leave them. Especially...”

“Yes?”  Faquarl asked, impatiently.

“Well, John’s still recovering. He needs help getting around.

“So? Oh, I’ll admit. Mandrake is nowhere near as bad as I’d heard. I heard rumors...”

“Oh, he’s had his low points. 2 “

( 2  This was putting it mildly. Still, I wasn’t about to regale  Faquarl with a list of Nathaniel’s worst moments. I knew the two didn’t exactly enjoy each other’s company. Half the time I was just glad that they hadn’t killed one another already!)

“Yes. Wasn't he the one responsible for  the…ah…less than stellar predicament  you were in upon our reunion?”

I sniffed. “I don't know what you mean. That crow man used to strike fear into the hearts of-”

“Well, I was referring to the slime, but now that you mention it your feathers  _ were _ slightly droopy...”

“Were not! And that was a particularly majestic pyramid of slime.”

“If you say so,  Bartimaeus . Personally, I usually prefer more intimidating forms.”

“Yes. Your current one is positively terrifying! The suit in particular!”

“What Hopkins lacks in...in...”

“Attractiveness? Grisliness? Tentacles?”

Faquarl shot me a glare. “He makes up for in unobtrusiveness. You’ll notice it’s rather hard to describe him?”

“I  _ did  _ wonder about that.” 3

( 3  Even now that I’d seen  Faquarl in Hopkins’ body countless times, I often forgot what he looked like until he was standing right in front of me. It was unnerving.”)

“It’s a type of resilience. It was useful when Makepeace and I were plotting the rebellion. But the state of your essence...I don’t think I’ve ever seen a  djinni in a sorrier state! Except that one  Khaba kept in the orb.”

“He was a prat.” I agreed. “But he’s sorry.”

“Oh, he’s  _ sorry _ ! Well, I guess that’s okay then.”

“No,” I snapped impatiently, “it’s not  _ okay _ . But...look, humans mess up. Some more than others. It’s not okay, but if you don’t...if you don’t forgive or at least let go...all you have left is anger. And that will destroy you in the end. And with N...mm hmm! With John, I. ..I watched him grow up...I watched them poison him and watched him change. I can...I can understand  _ his  _ faults more than those of most humans. I’m just...I’m glad he’s...well, more like his younger self.”

Faquarl was quiet for a moment and I studied the fascinating stiches on his drapes. It wasn’t in the nature of our relationship to wax philosophical. Until fairly recently, our relationship had usually consisted of arguments and battles, some of which were indirectly responsible for natural disasters and the destruction of buildings. It was nice to be able to sit together in relative peace, being fairly certain  Faquarl wasn’t going to send a knife in my direction. But it did make knowing what to say and, more importantly, when to shut up difficult. Before an awkward moment could be broken by a detonation, but now that was completely inappropriate.

“Is that how you do it, then?”

“Hmm?

“You...you maintain a carefree...and completely idiotic!...attitude by...by just letting go?”

“I’ll have you know that my cheerful demeanor has gotten me out of more than one tight spot!”

“Yes. Doubtless because the enemy has believed that no one with your subpar IQ could possibly be a threat. But that’s...that’s it then?” 

“I suppose so. I guess I never really thought about it much until now.”

“The thing is,” and now  Faquarl was studying the stiches with equal fascination, “with everything...after everything the magicians have done...how can you just...move on?”


End file.
